


Precious Foreign Love

by DJ_TNT



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-03-22 19:46:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13771239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJ_TNT/pseuds/DJ_TNT
Summary: Being idols in love has never been easy. Dating a member of your own band may be even harder. Can Mina and Momo get away with secretly dating or will their members and fans figure it out?





	1. Me, You, and Them

_**Note:**_ I really don't like the beginning of the story because it was written well before I really knew Twice's characteristics well, and just isn't my best writing tbh. But I promise you that the story only gets better, and much deeper. Plus it won't be mostly just smut and won't be so cringy like the first few chapter are. You can skip ahead if you'd like.

* * *

 

It was almost black out when Mina got back from recording this year's JYP Nation song. The overcast was darker than a dreary stormy night although the sun was just setting. The weather made Mina want to lay in bed, listen to CNBlue’s latest album and drift to sleep.

 

“You're back!” Momo ran to her. She hugged her tight on the spot.

 

“Momo unnie,” Mina began to say. She found the lips she loved so much against her own.

 

“Minari, it's just us. The others went off to their own schedules after the photoshoot,” Momo informed her. Momo was bouncing left and right. She had waited longer than the time it normally took her to finishing eating for Mina to come back. Which was well over an hour.

 

Mina found strength again. Hours spent in the studio recording seemed to have dissipated into a dream long past. “Really?” she smiled her gummy smile.

 

Momo nodded with a wide closed-eye smile and a thudding heart. “Sit down,” she led Mina to the sofa. “You must be exhausted. I'll massage you.”

 

Mina gave her a tilted smile. It was such a simple yet appealing gesture that Momo found herself a bit too happy. Mina didn't say much, but by now Momo could read every little motion she made like a script she had to memorize for the most important role in her life - the role of being Mina's girlfriend.

 

As Momo’s skilled fingers got to work massaging away, her mind thought back to the first time she had touched Mina tenderly and affectionately like this. It was the day they had first moved into the dorm. Mina was in the room that would become Momo and Jeongyeon's, helping the messy Momo sort through clothes.

 

“I was so worried you wouldn't make it into the band,” Mina had said barely above a whisper. Back then, she could hardly speak about her innermost feelings in front of Momo. Momo was an outspoken favorite to many; Mina was just a quiet wallflower in her own mind. How could she ever hope to express how she truly felt? This may be as close to a confession as she may ever get.

 

Without makeup on, Momo's eyes seem to completely disappear whenever she was happy. It was a trait Mina found to be absolutely adorable. In this cheery mood, Momo handed a folded shirt to Mina for sorting. “I'm glad too. It would kill me if I couldn't be with you…” she paused then tacked on, “all. You all.”

 

Mina blinked several times, then decided against her intuition. Maybe she was just thinking things. Besides, if she were to confess and Momo were to be straight it would be a big issue, a terrible problem indeed. Mina would die of the shame. It would be even worse than the time that Jeongyeon and Sana accidentally kissed while rehearsing _Do It Again_ , and that time all the members had acted strange about it for two whole days. Moreover, Korean wasn't as tolerant and as accepting as Japan, Mina reminded herself. (That year had already been rocked by one queer idol scandal.) She couldn't let her fledgling career end so abruptly and drag Momo down with her.

 

To Mina’s right, however, a much bolder girl had thoughts running quicker than Sistar at the Idol Star Athletics Championships. She had left the pain of being wrenched away from Mina once. She would not let it happen twice. “Mina, what would you have done if I didn't make it to Twice?” Momo tested the water.

 

 _What type of question is that?_ Mina asked in her head. Out loud she said, “I would be really sad. I would keep crying about it, even now,” her eyes fell, thinking of past hurt. “You mean a lot to me. And I...I like you, a lot.” _Oh no!_ Mina fretted in her head. Why did she speak so bluntly? She practically just confessed!

 

Momo met her nervousness with matching unease. “I'm glad to have a friend from Japan like you who can counterbalance me.” She stopped talking when she realized it sounded like she was uninterested in being anything except friends. “What I mean to say is I...I...” she rambled on. Mina's kind pretty eyes compelled her to speak. “I like you too! I’ve always thought you were extremely pretty and way more mature and elegant than me,” she nearly screamed. She hope no one outside heard. Most importantly, she hoped she hadn't guessed Mina's intentions wrong.

 

Between them it was silent. Then, Mina who had always been prone to crying turned away. She had tears in her eyes. She felt ashamed for being such a teary romantic. Her antics made her even more embarrassed than Momo at that moment. Mina was often credited as the cleverest member of Twice. In this instance, she was so sure of Momo’s love that it almost frightened her with both a surprising feeling and a rush of love-induced adrenaline that she had never felt before.

 

“Don't cry!” Momo hugged her back, shouting in her lowest strangled voice. “I'm sorry if I was wrong! I didn't mean to assume. It was just...you were too nice to me, and I thought...I'm sorry!”

 

Mina faced her hastily. “No, stupid Momoring. I'm happy.”

 

Momo kissed her right then for the first time. Both reveled in the shocking delight. Momo had play-kissed others before. An actual kiss like this with Mina’s tender lips that tasted like honey was out of her comprehension. She couldn’t even imagine a kiss like this if she had the most amazing imagination. It was a passionate kissed that lasted more than eternity, slowly moving from the ground to the bed. It was there that Jihyo had found them.

 

“What are you two doing?!” their leader shouted with shock. Before anyone else could barge in, she locked the door in a split second.

 

Momo and Mina had lost their souls, losing what seemed like ten years in the stressful talk with Jihyo that ensued. After the thorough dress down, Jihyo finally gaged the situation. “So how long do you two plan to keep this up?” Momo remembered her words exactly to this day.

 

“As long as Mina will let me date her and be her girlfriend,” Momo declared as she entwined Mina's hand with hers for the first time. Mina had been silently weeping and almost petrified with fear for most of the talk with Jihyo. Momo had to be extra bold to comfort her and let her know things will be okay.

 

Mina gazed at Momo with pleasant surprise. Momo had made this whole otherwise terrifying encounter with leader-nim much more tolerable. Not totally unexpected considering Momo had always been a goof. When Jihyo had asked how long this had been going on, Momo had said, “You really had no idea that I’m queer? All my ships and OTPs are girl idols.” Mina had unintentionally laughed at that. Just thinking about it, she smiled again. Momo had just indirectly asked her out.

 

“Fine,” Jihyo said with surprising understanding. “But you can't let the other members and anyone else know just yet. You already know how some people will react. Be careful.” With some more thought she stipulated, “And you two can't room together! Mina, move your stuff out. I don't want to risk the others overhearing you two all the time. Ya two little nasties.”

 

Momo laughed even now when she thought back to that day, and that particular conversation. It was funny to think that the primary reason she was roommates with Jeongyeon was because Jihyo thought she and Mina couldn’t behave if they got to room together.

 

“What are you laughing at?” Mina asked.  

 

“How cute we are,” Momo replied. She massaged Mina's shoulders a bit harder. She wanted to get in deep into the groove of her back but her t-shirt kept getting in the way. “Mina, take off your shirt,” she requested. 

 

“I don't want to,” Mina stated with pursed lips. She clasped Momo's hand. “I know what you're up to.”

 

Momo blushed. “It's not that, I swear! I just wanted to feel you better.”

 

Mina burst into laughter. She fanned her reddening face. Months with Momo and she was still blushing away like a teenage girl in her first relationship. Well, technically she was.

 

Momo was close to kissing her cheek when a door creaked open. Jeongyeon hobbled in. “Have you two seen the ‘out Mina’ and ‘out Momo’ hashtags yet? Apparently anti-fans want to out you two...from the band,” the tomboy finished off skeptically. “What are you two doing?” she inquired. Momo's puckered lips were centimeters from Mina's face.

 

Thinking quick on her feet, Mina pulled out her phone. "Taking selcas!" she explained enthusiastically. "You know, just fan service," except Mimo was real, unbeknownst to Jeongyeon.

 

Momo's roommate looked them back and forth a couple times before she was convinced. While she did this, Mina stared at Momo saying in her head, _‘I thought you said we were alone?’_ Momo raised an eyebrow saying in her mind, ‘ _I'm sorry, I forgot to check my own room!’_ In the meanwhile, Jeongyeon saw a gift bag on the floor. She picked it up before either girls could react. “What is that?” Jeongyeon gasped with fright. She pulled out a lacy nightgown.

 

Momo turned white as snow with fear. Jeongyeon had found the gift she was going to surprise Mina with. The two had never had lingerie before, and now it looked like they'd never get to use them.

 

“You got Mina a gift, but not me?” the naive Jeongyeon filed a complaint.

 

Seeing her girlfriend's nervousness and knowing how her mind worked, Mina figured the gift must have been for their private use. She immediately snatched it away. "It's mine!" she called out possessively. “It’s a late coming of age present for me to use with my…future boyfriend,” Mina claimed with an unsteady voice. She was not much of a liar.

 

“Okay, okay. Geesh,” Jeongyeon retracted. She was use to Momo giving Mina special treatment by now, though something about it still bugged her. “You'd be such a jealous girlfriend,” she teased Mina. “And I though Momo and I were the representative Twice pairing.”

 

Mina held the gift closer. She flushed and glared at Momo. Momo laughed shyly. Her girlfriend could be rather fierce sometimes. It was this very same quiet anger that scared Momo more than all the terrifying amusement park rides combined.

 

***

 

Movie time at the dorm also meant cuddling time. Sitting smack in the middle of the couch, Momo and Mina held hands under the blanket they shared. Momo had long made it a habit to hold Mina’s hand. To wear off others’ suspicion, she also held everyone else’s. Mina did not like that much. What could she do though except the same thing? Lucky for them, Jeongyeon had left them alone so it was just the two of them right then.

 

It was then that Tzuyu and Chaeyoung got home. “Do homework with me in the dining room,” the smaller maknae suggested to the taller one.

 

“But it’s my birthday,” Tzuyu protested. She had gotten much love from both fans and the members through fan signings and the Vlive they did earlier in the day. But that wasn’t enough. She was still waiting on the big feast the band would have after everyone got home.

 

“Aigoo, my baby! Come here!” Momo called out to her child. Momo, one of the moms of Twice, told her youngest daughter to lay down on her lap. Mina patted her head while Momo squished her cheeks and asked her about her day. It was a quite sweet domestic family scene out of context.

 

While playing with Tzuyu’s face, Mina got distracted looking at her girlfriend in a way that was more than friendly. Momo still had the slightest bit of baby fat on her cheeks. Mina loved to poke at it day and night. It was the only time she could call Momo ‘squishy’. She wasn’t expecting the maknae to fuss and say, “Unnies, play with my cheeks too!”

 

“Alright, alright,” Mina agreed, not taking her eyes off of Momo. Momo paid her little attention this time. She wanted to see the action scene in the new movie fans had suggested. All three of them gasped when the main protagonist was thrown against a wall.

 

Hearing the commotion in the living room, Jeongyeon came out of her room with kimbap and salad in a bento box. “Scoot over Mina. I'm the dad” Jeongyeon joked.

 

Mina defended herself for once. “But I want to be the other mother.”

 

Tzuyu flipped her long hair. Queen of one-liners, she said, “Unnies, you don't have to fight over me. There's plenty of me to go around.”

 

The unnies squealed with secondhand embarrassed. “Alright, the game is over,” said Momo. Everyone got up and left leaving Tzuyu alone on the couch. She promptly texted the real group mom, Jihyo, to relieve her boredom. Tzuyu hoped everyone would hurry home. She didn’t want to do homework alone all night for a change. The model student and member chosen for ‘most likely to be class president’ wanted a night off. If only Chaeyoung would stop for a bit to play with her like how Mina and Momo always locked themselves in a room to play alone. Tzuyu wondered what type of game they were playing right now in Mina’s room. She heard plenty of screaming. 


	2. Same Complaints, Same Solutions

Mina’s room was filled with sighing, not screams this time. The concerned girl showed her phoned to Momo. “Look,” she said. “This is why we shouldn’t stand next to each other, ever.”

 

Momo took the phone and observed the gif set closely. She squinted her eyes and laughed off Mina’s so-called problem. “It’s just us being cute. What’s wrong with it?”

 

“We’re too obvious!” Mina said with wide paranoid eyes and pouty lips. As much as she loved Momo, she feared being discovered. Sure she had come out to her parents and officially introduced Momo as her girlfriend to them the last time they were in Japan promoting, but family was family. Her family was forgiving and accepting. The public would never be. “They already notice that we imitate each other too much. I mean, look how in sync we are!” she expressed with mild exasperation.

 

Momo’s arms found Mina’s torso, wrapping around her slow and gentle. “Don’t worry so much. You’re over thinking again,” she said to her calmly. Her big head tussled against Mina’s neck where she knew it tickled. “You should just let it go like me. Remember when Nayeon unnie jumped onto you at the fan meeting when I wanted to be your team member for the game? I didn’t get worked up about it.”

 

Mina squirmed. “But that was different…” she began to say. The tickling sensation was too much. She sighed, Momo always had ways to help her forget her worries. Perhaps it was best that they didn’t talk about the constant fears that Mina lived in. Yet, the worrier in Mina couldn’t take things so casually and live one day at a time without planning like Momo so effortlessly could. She envied that about her, and also loved her for it.

 

There was so much that Mina and Momo loved about each other. Mina had once told Momo that she didn’t think a relationship that started in her teens was likely to last long, yet Momo had been persistent, confessing over and over until Mina accepted her heart. Mina could recall a time when Momo had practically cried in utter admiration saying how Mina was too good for her, too good for this world. “You can dance and do ballet and you’re so freakin’ good at playing games!” Momo had randomly called out one day while watching Mina defeating her own high score on a game. “What did I do to deserve you?” Momo fake cried like the proud girlfriend that she was.

 

Mina had laughed so hard she felt abs forming on her. “But you’re Dance God Momo,” she had replied to the excessive compliments. “You’re my perfect dorky girlfriend.” Thinking back on this, Mina smiled down on her hunched over girlfriend. “You’re right,” she told Momo. “I have bigger, more realistic things to worry about!”

 

Momo shot up. This time, she was the one who was concerned. “Like what?!”

 

“Like staying ahead of Nayeon unnie on SuperStar JYP!” Mina opened up the gamming app she had been adamantly playing recently. “I can’t let her beat my high score!”

 

The chuckling ahjusshi laugh that Momo often did in private could be heard loud and clear. “Now that is something you never have to worry about,” she said with complete confidence in Mina’s gamming skills. Then, thinking of how much she loved watching Mina play video games, she added, “But you should play anyway. Just in case.”

 

So it was that Mina played while Momo watched. It was a common thing for them. Mina enjoyed playing with Momo by her side, and Momo like watching Mina in her natural habitat. She was in her element when she gamed. The usually composed Mina became the concentrated gamer. From a silent girl, she became a chatterbox who commented on every little detail, narrating practically the whole game. This was not to mention Momo’s favorite change. While playing, Mina let loose in another way. She had a habit of licking the side of her lips. It was a little gesture that did a lot for Momo. This was when Mina looked the cutest in Momo’s eyes. She could watch Mina playing games all day.

 

Momo could never control herself when it came to Mina gaming. Last time Mina did a gaming Vlive, Momo had professed her love for her in the comments. Mina had loved it, until the members and fans started speculating Mimo again. Momo didn’t care. She knew Mina did though. She’d tried her best to not touch her so much while they were in front of others. It was much easier said than done. Mina was a tiny bundle of adorableness that Momo kept gravitating to. Like jokbal and Momo, they were inseparable. It pained to her keep her distance from Mina. Sometimes she’d have to purposely look away, otherwise she’d want to hold her close and show her how much she loved her.

 

Now that it was just the two of them, Momo let her love bullets fly. One kissed landed on Mina’s cheeks after the other. They were soft, but constant. If it were up to Momo she’d topple them over with heavy sloppy kisses, but it wasn’t all about her. It was what Mina wanted too. Mina was slower to get affectionate. It had taken her months of hesitant innocent contact before she finally agreed to go out with Momo. After that, it was many more months of cuddling before they had gotten intimate. Even then, Mina had been too shy to convey her preferences. Momo had to work hard to get her to be this comfortable, been very patient with her to learn what she liked where and when. Momo was bad at expressing her emotions. Instead she listened and observed Mina like she was a jewel nothing else could rival. Momo had done so much observation she could probably write a book called The Art of Being Mina.

 

Art or not, from a third person perspective there was no denying that Momo looked like a fool in love. Jihyo walking into the bedroom she shared with Mina, Sana, and Nayeon clearing her throat. This turned to a light cough. She had caught a slight cold from performing in the rain the other day.

 

“Are you okay?” Mina asked. Momo would steal a few more glances at Mina before she would notice the leader’s presence.

 

“Stay away from me, you two,” Jihyo quarantined herself from them. “You don’t want to get sick. You have your schedule tomorrow and pabo Momo here has her dance show.” She grabbed a tissue from the tissue box by her bed and blew her nose hard.

 

“You sound really congested,” Momo said. “You sure you don’t want to rest in your bed?”

 

“And interrupt you two lovebirds?” Jihyo half laughed and half scoffed. Seeing the two blush, she continued, “You should be thankful it wasn’t Nayeon unnie who walked in. She’d ask why Momo doesn’t kiss her the same way. Then Momo would be obligated to kiss her and it’d start a jealous quarrel between you two again.”   

 

Mina wanted to dive into her sheets and hid from the embarrassment. Everything Jihyo said was too real to deny. Of course, her blonde knight came to her rescue. “Let’s go shower and leave Jihyo alone to rest,” Momo proposed.

 

“But won’t Jeongyeon unnie be annoyed?” Mina asked. She wouldn’t want to inconvenience Momo’s roommate. They already were loud and obnoxious plenty of times while she was trying to put together lego sets or practice her MCing. Momo would feel bad afterwards and be extra sweet to Jeongyeon, which never settled well with Mina. Sure they were the closest of roommates, but there was a limit for everything. At the end of the day, it was still Jeongyeon who slept in the same bed as Momo. How could a girlfriend not feel slightly jealous and envious?

 

Mina understood that her not rooming with Momo was for their own good. They could get sick of each other. And if, just if they did ever break up, it would be incredibly awkward for them both. However, the mind wanders like a seasoned traveler. Mina couldn’t help thinking now and then how nice it would be if she could live with Momo and be able to hold her each night. No more sneaking around. Actual unrestrained physical contact each night even if it was only for the three hours that Twice members got to sleep every night. What wouldn’t she give for that.

 

“Jeongyeon is out rehearsing her script with her unnie,” Momo replied.

 

It was all Mina and the tired sick Jihyo needed to hear. “Then let’s go shower,” Mina agreed.

 

“Take your time,” Jihyo called after the couple. They were already rushing out of the room. The leader smiled. The three year dating ban Twice was under was partially meant to foster closeness between members. Mina and Momo’s level of closeness however made Jihyo shiver in her skin with an innocent girl’s shyness. She hoped they last for a long, long time, if not forever.

 

***

 

Water had a way of highlighting muscle definition. Momo glistened in the shower; her toned body was amplified thrice fold. Mina loved seeing her wet in every sense. The dorky girl transformed into a sparkling definition of fit beauty under the showerhead. It was only the other day that Mina had belatedly noticed how well-suited Momo was for the water. Since then, they had showered together whenever there was a chance.

 

The day that Twice had to perform in the rain, Momo had flawlessly executed her dancing like she was the one who controlled the rain. With her fine thick hair propelling moisture into Mina’s direction whenever they danced close to each other, Mina had felt like she was melting. The bringer of rain had gifted her with the perfection that was Momo. She was a true performer, capable of conquering hearts in any performance under any circumstances.

 

In the shower, it was no different. With shampoo in their hair, and the fear it would get into their eyes, Momo and Mina felt for each other with eyes closed. Momo knew Mina’s body all too well by now. Each touch sent Mina’s senses tingling, her heart thudding. They had gone into the shower to get clean, but she found her thoughts getting dirtier.

 

Mina ruffled her own hair wildly, desperate to get all the soap out so she could see Momo clearly. She needed to bathe in the glory of her girlfriend’s unbeatable body. More importantly, she wanted to see Momo when they made love to each other under the hot water. There was an unusual urgency in her actions that was more characteristic of Momo than herself. Momo had gotten her weak and needy.

 

Mina muffled her moan that would’ve otherwise echoed in the bathroom. She needed this. The long hard kisses Momo gave her in places that would definitely be covered by clothes. Her breast would undoubtingly be sore the following day. In response, Mina dug her fingers into Momo’s firm buttocks. There was barely a bounce. Dancing and muscle building had worked wonders on Momo.

 

There was a time Momo had been jealous of Mina’s love for CNBlue members. These thoughts no longer bothered her so much. She knew none of them could ever parallel the love Mina had for her, and none of them could ever match Momo’s body. Pulling Mina close, she proved how fine she was yet again.

 

Mina’s arms wrapped around Momo’s sculpted shoulders as she felt herself being lifted up. Her legs found their way around Momo’s waist. Momo could easily support her weight, kissing her wildly as she held on tight to Mina’s body that was suspended on hers. One moment she was in the air, her body rubbing hard against Momo’s and the next she was on her feet again. Momo had led her to the wall, leaning her back, then went down.

 

Mina instantly missed Momo’s lips being on hers. Though just seconds later she wouldn’t have Momo anywhere else except on her mound. Mina sucked in her lips, biting on them to silence herself. Once, the two had struggled to help each other reach their orgasm. Now, it was only a matter of simply placing their tongue or fingers in a place they were accustomed to being.

 

All of a sudden, Momo was stopped by a banging sound. “Are you almost done showering?” Jeongyeon called out from the other side. “I want to shower before midnight.”


	3. This Love

Sana left the JYP building late in the afternoon with Mina to one side of her and Momo to the other. It had been a while since the Japanese member went out alone together. Even after the bi-annual JYP Nation concerts Mina and Momo had been busy together. Momo had been lighting up the stage and the audience’s heart recently with her hard-hitting dance stages on the dancing competition show Hit the Stage. Mina was her partner for an upcoming couple dance, and boy did they like to practice together all day and night.

 

“Let’s go to the mart!” Sana had suggested, popping into their dance room. She had walked in on Momo with her powerful hands gripping Mina’s face. A very sensual dance, Sana sensed.

 

A flushed Mina hurried to cover the bruises she received on her arms from the couple’s passionate dance. Though some were work-related, others had her blushing in a dead giveaway of her and Momo’s more than platonic relationship. “Sure,” Mina agreed right away. It was a quick cover up that had Momo sighing.

 

So it was that Momo found herself browsing the aisles for snacks. Snacks that Mina would probably make her put back. “If you snack too much, it’ll make your abs disappear,” Mina had told her sleepily one night and forgotten all about it the next. Momo smiled to herself a bit and then hesitantly put down a bag of chips she desperately wanted after a hard day of rehearsing. She had enough snacks recently, she reasoned to her rebellious stomach.

 

When her mom and Mina’s mom had come to Korea recently for the concerts, they had come with two suitcases full of Japanese chocolates, chips, and gummies. All of Mina and Momo’s favorites. The two families may have different reactions to their daughter’s relationship, but they both remained highly supportive of their careers throughout. Unlike the silent Mina, her mother was a talented sweet talker capable of convincing Momo’s mom to look at Mina and Momo’s relationship in a more positive light. She was so good at her craft that Momo’s mom ended up on a weeklong trip to Korea with her. Forget about their daughters, she had told her. Let’s just do some parent to parent bonding. Just in case they became in-laws later, she had the audacity to sneak in. 

 

Momo and Mina were forever grateful for it. So cautious were they to conceal their relationship that sometimes it didn’t feel like they were dating at all. Like Momo had said to Mina many times before, even if she were to tell the members, their fans, and Dispatch about them dating no one would believe them.

 

Momo pouted, thinking deeply. Sana came up from behind with the shopping cart. “Can’t decide which one to get?” she asked. “While manager oppa isn’t here to check the nutrition facts, I would sneak the unhealthiest one into the cart if I were you.”

 

The food lover shook her head. “Mina’s right. We’ve been eating lots of soy sauce marinated crabs and other junk food lately. I should watch what I eat more. My fans keep saying they miss my abs.”

 

Sana chided her, “Do you always have to listen to Mina so much? Is she your biggest fan?”

 

Momo laughed. Sana didn’t understand their situation, so naturally she would be inclined to be jealous. Sana didn’t have to worry about her mannerisms and interactions with the other members. She would probably never have to worry about who might walk in on her while she was dancing with the person she loved. Mina had been right when she had told Momo it would be a hard path for them. Yet, Momo laughed in the face of adversity. Momo had refused to leave her sister’s dance studio when she was three and ended up being the youngest student there. If no one could stop her then, surely no one could stop her now.

 

“No, she’s my girlfriend,” Momo said with a defiant smile.

 

Sana took a long hard look at her, then laughed as well. “Won’t your husband, Jeongyeon, be jealous?” she joked.

 

Shaking her whole body, Momo fussed. “I’m telling you the truth! Mina’s my girlfriend!” she said again. Mina was looking at vegetables in another aisle. Although they were under strict orders from Jihyo to keep things hushed, Momo had a free mouth on her. Without Mina there to reinforce limitation, Momo conducted her own little experiment. How much could she get away with telling?

 

Taking a snack from behind Momo’s back, Sana shook off the offhanded admission as Momo being Momo and fooling around. “Have you gone crazy from all the skinship you two have been having from all your dances together?” she teased Momo, causing her to frown. “Alright, alright. If you say so. Mimo is real,” Sana agreed half-heartedly.

 

Momo pouted again, then seeing Mina approaching them with groceries in hand, she seized her wrist. Mina winced slightly. Momo had a habit of holding her too tightly, while dancing as well as while being intimate otherwise. Mina actually preferred this full-on rough expression of their love, but it was getting progressively harder to hid her bruises and brush them off as all _normal_ dance-related accidents. It was tiring hiding it all, especially from the members and fans who knew them best.

 

“Minaring, tell Sana we’re a real couple!” Momo whined to Mina who was technically the younger one of the two. She half expected Mina to deny and scold her later.

 

Holding her and Momo's matching couple necklace for a split second for strength, Mina surprised them all. “That’s right,” she said, latching on to Momo’s torso. “I’m Momoring’s girlfriend.”

 

With wide eyes, Momo accepted Mina’s embrace with some confusion. Meanwhile, Mina’s words twirled in Sana’s head. Mina and Momo dating would explain why they’ve left her out of all the collaborations they’ve been doing lately and have been spending so much time alone together. But Sana still had a hard time believe it. Like most of the other members, Sana was very affectionate with almost everyone, so it was difficult for her to know for sure if this was true, or if Mimo were just pulling her leg.

 

When Sana realized Mina and Momo were still waiting for a reply from her, she wiped the stunned look off her face. “If this is true, I’m really happy for you two,” she said with a smile that slowly spread across her face. Then she pouted a bit. “But if you two are lying to me, I swear, I’ll get revenge and it won’t be pretty!”

 

Mina laughed right away. Momo was a bit slower as usual. “Let’s go,” Mina said to the two. “We’re starting to attract a crowd.” With faces down, and hoodies drawn closer to their head, the three left with plenty of snacks and happy hearts. Well…two happy hearts. Sana would not admit it then, but she was jealous. She wondered if the two could give her relationship advice when they’re alone together again. Female idols like Hyeri, Jiae, and her most beloved Eunha held a very special place in Sana’s heart. She needed help confessing to them.

 

Once they got home, Momo was quick to lock her and Mina into her room while Sana changed and put away her portion of the groceries. Wasting no time, Momo asked, “Mina, are you sure about this?”

 

Mina gave her girlfriend another reassuring hug. There were many things Mina feared, but being with the person she loved so dearly eased her of her fears just enough to allow for this bit of courage. Mina was more of a lover than a fighter, but she would fight for Momo if she had to. In all honestly, things in life had mostly come easily to Mina considering her ability to learn quickly and her natural good looks, not to mention her family’s relative wealth and social status. However, the one thing that had never come easy to Mina was love. She had multiple one-sided crushes before. She couldn’t even confess to her former dance instructor, or even talk to CNBlue when she finally got to meet them. Yet when she met Momo, Momo had made it easy for them from the start (after she got over how intimidating popper Mina appeared at first sight), taking the initiative. 

 

Momo had approached Mina first and never let her go since then. Mina could only thank her by saying now, “You can go ahead and tell the members.”

 

Momo’s body perked up. Her eyes lit up brighter than the lights on stage that she was so fond of. “Are you sure?” she asked in hushed Japanese.

 

Mina nodded with a smile. “We’ve hid long enough. I know how taxing it is on you. I don’t want to see you like this unnecessarily,” she replied in Korean. “And like you’ve said before, they probably won’t believe you anyway.”

 

Momo laughed, grabbing Mina for a waddling hug that made them both look like penguins. “You and your big words. But you see? I had a point. Sana is still partially convinced that we’re pulling a prank on her.” Then, as quickly as she had latched onto Mina, Momo let go and made for the door.

 

“Where are you going?” Mina called after her.

 

Looking back momentarily, Momo said, “I’m going to tell all the members now!” She couldn’t wait any long or else she might burst from excitement like a piñata. “Want to come with me?”

 

Hesitant, Mina withdrew back into her shell. “No, I’m really tired,” she excused herself. “I’ll watch you from afar though,” she offered to observe Momo as she’d done for so many months before they were thoroughly acquainted.

 

Momo walked back to hold Mina’s hand in her own. With a little squeeze she said sincerely, “Thank you. I know how much this all is for you. You can still change your mind, you know.”

 

Mina shook her head. “No, I want this. And I want to see you confidently running around screaming about our love to everyone.”

 

Holding up her hands in fists and shaking them close to her face in the cute way she usually did, Momo smiled the dorky full smile that never failed to bring a smile to Mina’s face. Mina leaned forward to kiss her forehead. But because Momo kept shaking about in excitement, Mina missed and kissed her nose instead by accident. They shared a hearty laugh, then a simple kiss.

 

“Now go,” Mina urged her on unnecessarily. Momo had already run to the maknaes’ room. She jumped in to the room after Chaeyoung opened the door for her. Seeing the two maknaes studying on Tzuyu’s bed together, she looked over to the tallest youth and announced very loudly, “Tzuyu, Chaeyoung, I’m dating Mina!”

 

Chaeyoung’s eyes squinted, her lips stuck out. “Okay? Congrats?” she asked uncertainly.

 

Tzuyu gave a disinterested look. “Unnie, we’re studying,” she stated with mild annoyance.

 

“Right…” Momo laughed nervously. “I’ll let you two be. Where’s Dahyun?”

 

“In the restroo–”

 

The shorter maknae never had a chance to finish. Momo had already run to the restroom in excitement. Unfortunately for Dahyun, she had forgotten to lock the door that day. Momo barged in, scaring the showering singing Dahyun witless. “Dahyunie! I’m dating Minaring!” Momo shouted over the running water and Dahyun’s terrified scream.

 

“What was that scream?” Jihyo asked back in her room. The loud commotion from the other rooms were distracting her from watching Vlives.

 

Mina snickered. “I think Momo walked in on her.”

 

Jihyo tilted her head. “What?”

 

Mina cleared her throat. Although she was the same age as Jihyo, and actually a month older than her, she still respected Jihyo greatly as a leader. Her reverence usually translated to obedience, but this time she wanted to be a rebel. “I told her she could tell the members that we’re dating.”

 

“ _What?!_ ” Jihyo repeated.

 

Love was not a crime, and hiding love was painful. If patient, quiet Mina was exhausted from the secret they had held for so long, she could only imagine how the impatient, vocal Momo felt. “We couldn’t do it any longer. I’m sorry, Jihyo.” Seeing Jihyo’s bewildered face, Mina hastily tried to redeem herself, “But don’t worry too, too much! They probably won’t believe her anyway.”

 

“It’s true. Mina has a point,” Sana chimed in. She had come into the room just then with a bag of chips. “They told me and I didn’t believe them until I just walked into you two talking about it just now.”

 

Jihyo’s jaw dropped. “You told Sana, too?” she questioned in disbelief.

 

Mina was too scared to answer. Sana answered for her. “It’s okay, Jihyo. Calm down. I don’t mind it. I support them. I’d tell you all if I was dating another female idol, too. It probably won’t be anyone from within Twice though.”

 

Both Jihyo and Mina were speechless this time.

 

Sana laughed to herself, swallowing the chips she had been chewing. “What? You couldn’t tell?” Her phone buzzed right then. Eunha had texted her from Gfriend’s manager’s phone (since Gfriend aren’t allowed to have cellphones).

 

Jihyo thought back to all the times Sana had fangirled over Apink, Gfriend, and more even while they were live in front of tens of thousands of fans. She suddenly felt like a dummy. “Oh my gosh..” Jihyo had had her doubts. She had dismissed them before, but now things all made sense.

 

***

 

A few weeks after the big coming out, life had returned to normal for Twice. True to Momo’s hunch, the member had merely thought she was being extra and did not take her words to heart. This was a good thing for Momo. Not only did she lifted a weight off her heart, she also felt much more free to show her love for Mina – while it was just them and the members of course.

 

Mina and Momo had gotten another warning from Jihyo to not be so upfront in front of others, especially after Momo kept telling fans that Mina was her girlfriend. The poor leader had been stressed out over it. Lucky for her, most of the fans had taken it as a silly joke as well. Those who did take Momo’s words seriously were all too happy for Mimo.  Nosy Sana had been asking them plenty of questions, from innocent ones to very personal, very rated ones.

 

Momo blushed thinking of these questions and hid herself in Mina’s chest. These past couple months had been eventful for them. Their Hit the Stage and JYPNation joint performances were very well received. Though Momo had failed to get a high score again and Mina had messed up her performance at the Idol Star Athletic Championships, they had felt much better in each other’s arms. Mina had cheered Momo up by just being there for her the whole journey, while Momo had cried along with Mina the second she saw her starting to tear up. They were inseparable in private now. Though to shippers it may seem like their ship was slowly starting to sink again, in the privacy of their dorm and through their many texts and Snow picture messages to each other Mina and Momo stayed closer than ever.

 

However, Momo’s love was sometimes too much. Her sculpted body laid heavy on Mina’s petite one. When Mina scooted Momo’s head off her chest with her pointer finger on her forehead, Momo groaned like a sumo wrestler. She flailed about in her blue blanket, looking like a trout. Momo kept sighing until they felt a kick from the bed over.

 

“Trying to watch my drama here!” Nayeon complained without looking up. “I’m on the last episode of _W_!”

 

Mina and Momo stifled their giggles. To appease the whinny Momo, Mina gave her a passing kiss on the lips, careful not to make too much noise in case Nayeon overheard them. They really had nothing to fear. When Nayeon was in drama addict mode, she was in the dimension of drama land. Like the main female protagonist in _W_ , she didn’t exist in our real world whenever she got sucked into the world of her one and only true love for now – Korean dramas.   

 

“Sleep,” Mina instructed softly. She parted Momo’s newly dyed hair with a loving caress.

 

Holding her blanket open, Momo pleaded, “Hold me.” Mina complied, joining Momo in the comfort of her blanket and holding her close. She felt Momo’s abs, slowly tracing up and down. She swallowed with a quickened heart. Momo didn’t think if it sexually at first, though she was slowly getting aroused as well. Then, remembering Nayeon’s presence and Jihyo’s warnings, Mina stopped. She found a comfy spot on Momo’s arm and snuggled deeply into it. This was enough to satisfy her.

 

Warm and beaming with loving happiness, Momo muttered uncharacteristically softly, “Hey Mina?”

 

“Yes?” Mina replied.

 

“I love you.”

 

Mina smiled. No reply was needed. She had known Momo’s love for her since her first confession. Over the months, approaching year, their love had only been reconfirmed. From Momo choosing to dance with her on Hit the Stage when the theme was ‘this love’ and everyone else had a partner of a different gender to little private moments like this, Mina would remember and treasure them all.

 

“Stay with me for a long time,” Mina eventually found herself saying. Neither of them could promise each other an eternity at the moment, but for now this love was all they needed. 


	4. Relationships and Ships Aplenty

A stressful yet eventful promotion era had passed for Twice. After winning their daesang for Song of the Year at MAMA and being the first girl group to win a daesang in four years, JYP understandably gave them a very well deserved short break. On this relaxing night, the maknae line did facials together in their room while also using some of the exercising and health equipment Tzuyu’s mom had sent her. Jihyo sat with Jeongyeon and Nayeon in the living room, rewatching MAMA. (Jihyo had scolded the two oldest unnies for so obviously fangirling over Taeyeon in public and being caught on camera doing it, but they’d only laughed in reply.) This left the three Japanese members alone in the room that Momo shared with Jeongyeon. It was a small room quiet fit for intimate talks, and Sana was still full of questions for the couple.

 

“Come on, you have to have some pictures of Mina on your phone!” Sana insinuated. She laughed mischievously, just thinking about it. What she wouldn’t give for all the sexy time Mimo had in the dorm. Before their TT promotions started, back when they still had full nights of sleep, Sana had enjoyed helping the couple get their intimate time. She was good at distracting the other members and covering up after Mimo. Who would’ve thought? Mina had even been afraid that Sana would accidentally spill the beans on them. Besides, she was plenty vocal about her own personal love for Eunha and Dahyun.

 

Momo, being slow to catch on as per usual replied, “Of course I do. I have pictures of all the members.” She lifted her phone to show a cute group photo.

 

Mina buried her face in her hand, blushing and embarrassed by both Sana’s straightforwardness and Momo’s innocence. “That’s not what she means…” Mina loved that Momo sometimes unintentionally knew just the right thing to say. She loved that Momo could make her insecurities into things she loved (making her proud of her collarbone and fine jawline for example). But other times, Momo would just blank out, or not comprehend the situation like now.

 

“What does she mean then?” Momo asked. Mina make a fussy sound and pushed the still laughing Sana gently. “Oooh!” Momo said at last. She now smiled shyly. “Even if I did, I wouldn’t show you. Not after what you did to us at the fan meet.”

 

On mention of the fan meet, Mina latched on to Momo’s arm and nuzzled her face against it. All she had wanted to do was play the Pepero game with Momo, yet Sana had pushed them together, causing them to accidentally kiss in public. Momo acted indifferent. It was just another kiss with Mina for her. Mina on the other hand, had gotten so shy, she had to literally crawl under the table and hide for a moment. After she got out, she still had to fan herself. Thinking about their public kiss gave Mina goosebumps even now. She hated to admit it, but she enjoyed being publicly affectionate with Momo a bit too much. Finding herself getting almost as red as she had gotten that time, Mina quickly excused herself from the room to recover. “I’m going to wash up right now while no one is using the restrooms!” she announced to the other two. By then, she was already half way out the door.

 

Worried, Sana looked to Momo for an answer once more. “Did I do something wrong?”

 

Momo sighed. “You know how she gets. Ever since the Pepero kiss we’ve been extra, extra careful in public. She was actually kinda upset at me for it. Can you believe it?” Momo felt the frustration rising from her feet up. Mina was a complicated woman compared to Momo. (They weren’t talked the genius and the pabo for no reason.) Sometimes, Momo was at a lost on what to do and how to act. This being her first serious relationship, she was even more confused than usual.

 

As the member with the most experience in relationships in the room, Sana gave some advice. “Well maybe if you weren’t so hot and cold with her all the time. Half the time people think that your ship is tragic, and the other half of the time you’re way too excitedly announcing your kiss to the world through live radio shows.”

 

Pouting, Momo retorted, “What am I supposed to do? She doesn’t want to be obvious, but she also lowkey wants people to know that I’m hers.”

 

Sana patted Momo’s head affectionately, opening her arms to hug her tight. With Momo tucked securely in her arms she whispered, “That’s cause you hoe around with women all the time, just like you’re doing now.”

 

Momo had never jumped out of a hug with someone quicker. She flicked Sana hard on the head.

 

“Ow!” Sana yelled. She started to fake cry until Momo would stop glaring at her.

 

“At least I stick to one real bae instead of splitting my time playing around with two potential baes,” Momo called Sana out in good humor, but still tried to sound a bit harsh spitefully.

 

The fake cries from Sana morphed into laughter. “You try picking between Eunha and Dahyun. They’re both too cute!” Sana shook with joy at the mere thought, her smile shined brighter than Dahyun’s tofu-like skin. “And although I only see Eunha every once in a while, the girl is a living doll. Were you not paying attention during her MAMA speech? I wanted to run up there and hug her when she got nervous during her speech. It was sooo cute, I thought I was going to die!” Sana’s eyes grew to two or three times their normal size. Only girls had such an effect on her. “And you already know how I feel about Dahyun.”

 

“I know, she leaned her head on my shoulder for two seconds and you pulled her to your side saying ‘no, you’re mine,’’ Momo recalled from another previous fan meet they had. Come to think of it, their fan meets often revealed some of the true nature of their relationships with each other. Too much if you asked Momo.

 

It was then that Mina came back, locking the door behind her. “What did I miss?” she asked.

 

“We’re talking about Sana’s hoeing around,” Momo answered. She patted her lap, indicating that Mina should sit down on it. Mina hesitated with Sana in the room.

 

Then looking at Momo’s pleading eyes, she went for it, waddling over like a penguin and making herself comfortable.

 

Sana envied their relationship. “If only I had a girlfriend.” She fake cried again, pitying the status of her ‘some’ relationships.

 

“Oh yeah, whatever happened to you and Tzuyu?” Mina asked casually.

 

“Eh,” Sana shrugged.

 

Momo threw her hands up in the air. “What? Sana had a thing for Tzuyu, too?! When did this happen? Where was I?”

 

Mina and Sana exchanged a quick look. Sana seemed to be saying, ‘I can’t believe you’re dating her.’ Mina stroked Momo’s lush hair the way a mother would to soothe a silly child. She mentally replied back to Sana, ‘Hey, she’s cute okay?’

 

Mina held onto Momo’s body and rattled her back and forth lovingly. “You’re so clueless,” she said to Momo affectionately. She would’ve pecked Momo on the cheek right then if Sana wasn’t there.

 

Dismissing Momo’s obliviousness, Sana responded to Mina’s question saying, “I gave up on that a long time ago. Her mom loves me and ships us, but Tzuyu is too young. She should be able to explore her options more. Besides, she just wants to concentrate on her career right now.”

 

“Wait, how did I miss all this happening?” Momo interjected. The trainers and staff at JYPE had once said that Momo was the most hardworking member, but by that they also meant she had paid attention to little except perfecting her dancing during her trainee days. She was never one to be in on the latest gossip.

 

Mina stopped rocking Momo. “You were too preoccupied with me,” she smiled proudly. “To be honest though, I only noticed because I was interested in Tzuyu, too.”

 

“What?!” Sana and Momo screeched in unison.

 

A loud banging knock and an accompanying loud voice caught all three’s attention. “Sana, your phone keep’s going off!” Jihyo called out. “It’s Eunha trying to contact you through Gfriend’s manager’s phone again.”

 

Sana had already dashed to the door after hearing the word ‘phone’. She couldn’t miss this! “Have fun you two,” she winked at Mina and Momo. “We’ll continue this conversation later.” With that, she was out.

 

Mina got up to close the door again. Not sure if she should lock it, she turned around. “Sleep, or…?” she asked her still befuddled girlfriend.

 

“You liked Tzuyu?” Momo asked again.

 

Mina walked over to her slowly, a smile spreading across her face. She took Momo’s head and gently brought it into her embrace. “But I chose you didn’t I?”

 

Arms pulling Mina in, Momo made herself comfy on Mina’s flat stomach. She said nothing, taking the moment to bask in their love. Then, a protruding thought came out of her mouth, “Still, I get really jealous, you know?”

 

With a quiet chuckle, Mina held Momo at arm’s length to examine her precious naïve face. “You had a thing for other members too, though.”

 

Momo couldn’t deny that. Changing the topic to get herself out of hot water, she blurted out, “Let’s just sleep! I’m exhausted!” She threw herself under the covers.

 

A bit lost by such antics at first, Mina agreed to take up the spot by Momo’s side. She would be the big spoon tonight, holding Momo in her arms. She was at peace until a pesky thought entered her mind after a while. “Jeongyeon will be coming back in her later,” she reminded Momo reluctantly.

 

“You’re a light sleeper so it’s fine,” Momo muttered back. Having always been a quick and deep sleeper, she was already starting to drift off.

 

“Okay, I’ll leave when she comes in without waking you up, alright?” She kissed Momo’s forehead.

 

Momo puckered her lips, waiting for Mina to lean in for a brief kiss. “Okay.” She yawned. “Minaring,” she mumbled.”

 

“Yes, Momoring?” Mina said back, half expecting Momo to say that she loved her.

 

“Our love isn't a burden to you is it?” Momo asked sincerely.

 

Mina took a moment to craft an appropriate response, never ever wanting to hurt Momo even unintentionally. Then, pressing herself so hard against Momo’s body that she elicited a moan from her, she whispered into her ear, “The judgmental world is a burden. But loving you… Loving the amazing you has never been a burden.”

 

Momo smiled with her eyes closed and her heart at rest. “Good.”

 

“Hey Momo?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Will you be able to sleep if I keep kissing you all over?”

 

“Probably not,” Momo flushed even in her sleepy state. Her heart along with other parts of her warmed and tingled. “But you can go ahead.”


	5. Convenient Excuses

Momo’s skin was soft yet firm as it had always been. As it was during the days early on in their relationship where each touch was new and novel. Though there was familiarity in their gestures now, Mina felt each part of Momo anew. She enjoyed these slow, gentle exploratory touches, reveling in the curvature of every cress and fold on Momo’s fine body. The times in which she had been unbearably sensitive to these touches and had to jerk away from them may have passed, yet the fond memories of their awkward early sensual adventures remain.

 

Each and every freckle and blemish on Mina’s body reminded her of that night. The night when the members were out and about for long enough with their live-in manger unnie that she could finally consummate her love with Momo. Momo had taken the time to kiss every single freckle she could find on Mina – not that she needed to find that many, she had already memorized where most of them were. She had kissed them as if they were stars in a great constellation of which Mina herself was the center and most brilliant star. And shriveling in delight and overstimulation as she may, Mina grasp on tight to Momo then as she did now. Kisses had always been their excuse to roam each other’s body, to make love before making love, and Mina’s love for Momo was endless. At least until another member would interrupt as they would almost as if on a schedule. Perhaps this was Jihyo’s excuse to break them up before they took things too far and get caught. Mina had always suspected she was the mastermind behind at least some of these oh-so-convenient interruptions, but she held no grudge. She only wished she was better with words, better with coming up with excuses to have more time with Momo.

 

But at last, that person wouldn’t be Mina as we know her. Our Mina had lived in fear for the longest time. Our Mina was logical and thorough. She had insisted to Momo that they make a list of pros and cons before they decided if they really should be dating each other in secret. The cons were many including potentially losing the other members’ affection and losing their career and their fans. The pros were short, but primary among them, as Momo made sure to underline multiple times, was that they’d be together and in love. They would be happy. A fragile and delicate happiness sure, but happiness through love had long been a pursuit for them both. Love was no simply excuse, it was the inconvenient truth. Even after Jihyo had once told them to blame it on youthful rashness and curiosity if they were to get caught by their company, even after some of their relatives had reacted poorly to the news, the ever-logical Mina did what she knew was best. She held on even tighter to Momo.

 

Mina had blamed herself before. Blamed her initial insecurities and worries that she had imposed upon Momo for making her more timid in their relationship, always needing Mina to give her the okay for she did anything. Momo who had been so bold in her other relationships with friends and interests alike seemed more scared than Mina nowadays, lacking courage. As some would see it, she was distant. This was a distance Mina worked hard to close. It was one of the things she worried about the most while Momo was in Jeongyeon’s arms and she was alone in her bed. When Nayeon occasionally accidentally rolled over to her bed in her sleep, it felt warm and comfortable. But it wasn’t Momo. Did Momo feel the same way when she was sick and suffering from the cold and Mina had to watch as other members comforted her in public instead of she herself? Mina needed to know, wanted so badly to know, but would never ask. Fear of a wayward heart, fear of opening yet more doors of insecurity in their relationship kept her mum.

 

All she could do now it seems was hold on tight to the Momo that she had now for as long as she could. But in a house of ten, that was never easy. Hearing the inevitable knock, Mina had to pry herself away from the sleeping girl. Letting her warmth linger in her heart, but wiping the joy off her face. (JYP had once criticized Mina for lack of stage acting, if only he knew how good she was at concealing her truest emotions now. On second thought, perhaps Momo was even better than she was in this field.) Jeongyeon was back and Mina had to return the spot that was rightfully hers. “Keep her warm,” she reminded Momo’s roommate. “She’s been fidgety from the cold.”

 

“I know,” Jeongyeon assured her. Mina may pride herself as a decent actress now, but Jeongyeon saw the flash of concern and another emotion she couldn’t quite read with certainty on her face. “I’ll make sure I cuddle with her tighter than usual!” she chuckled, squishing Momo until she was whacked by a semi-conscious arm. Mina smiled awkwardly then left.

   

***

 

Love in of itself may not be a burden to Mina, yet certainly the things one would do for love would be viewed as a burden by some. But again, not for Mina. Taking a short break from practicing for ISAC, she wondered about looking for snacks for Momo. Momo had always had quite the appetite. Even as a trainee, she was exactly the type of customer that buffets feared the most. Mina thought of it as a funny irony. How could Momo eat that much and still maintain such a great figure? The finely toned arms and legs, her firm chest, those abs that Mina would do anything for…

 

During the last episode of Twice TV4, Mina had make pasta at Momo’s mere mention of it. She measured each and every single ingredient meticulously like she was completing an extremely complex math problem. She had even gone as far as naming it _Daughter-In-Law Pasta_. Oh how the members had praised her, but the only praise that echoed through Mina’s head the remainder of that day was Momo’s excited voice saying, “It’s delicious!” over and over. She had cleaned the plate thoroughly and full-heartedly. And so, even with all the members keeping distance in between them, Mina’s heart was full just as Momo’s stomach was. It was the quickest way to Momo’s heart after all, and in the moment, Mina was in pursuit of more food stuff for her insatiably girlfriend.

 

She heard footsteps chasing after her. “Let me go with you!” Momo called after her, already having caught up. Mina had a habit of waddling like a penguin, making her far from being the quickest walker of the bunch while among the dance line, Momo was a decent speed walker.

 

“No,” Mina said firmly. She looked back and forth for the infinite time to make sure they were truly alone in their dorm and then pecked Momo on the cheek. This concept of true alone time was novel to her. The members were at home or abroad spending time with friends and family while only she and Momo remained with not even Sadness Manager unnie in sight. It was too good to be true. Bless whoever gave just her and Momo schedules over the break, Mina thought. Coincidence or not, she would cherish it. She was truly grateful for work. And by that she meant she was truly grateful for time alone with Momo as well. “You just spent hours filming for that new variety show. You should rest. I’ll be right back,” Mina insisted, cupping her face, wanting to hold it like that for a minute short of eternity just to admire, just to convey her love.

 

“No, let’s go together if we have to go out instead of getting delievery. There’s only one thing I want to eat anyways,” Momo answered back with a squeeze of Mina’s hand.

 

Mina flushed, dropping her hand and her head. “Don’t be so vulgar…”

 

“Wait, are we still talking about food here?” Momo asked with true confusion.

 

If it was possible to be more red than the scarlet letter, that would be the shade of Mina’s face. She hated that Momo had her mind in places she didn’t know it was capable of going to. The saying that couples becoming more similar to each other had some truth to it. Koreans believed that people’s hair grow out much longer and finer if they were prone to thinking dirty thoughts. Mina had once joked with Momo that that was why her girlfriend had such great hair although she always bleached it. But now Mina herself was looking at her own fine black hair which was growing past her shoulders.

 

Momo brushed off the embarrassment for her. She would call her out for it, she was clever enough to grasp the situation contrary to popular belief, but she was kind. And especially kind to Mina. “Let’s order our favorite foods and enjoy them here. How about that?”

 

Mina nodded. For a girl who was iffy about excuses, she sure loved it when Momo made up excuse for her. Excuses to eat, excuses so they could have quality time together, excuses to keep her from embarrassment. It was these unspoken considerations that had drawn her closer to Momo since the start of their relationship.

 

Of course, human nature only changes so quick. Momo still had that naughtiness in her. “And then we can do whatever you want, Mina,” she tacked on with a hint of a grin. “For as long as you want.”

 

Momo’s words had their usual effect even after all these months of dating. Mina hid her face in her arms and squealed. She would yelp into a pillow if they were remotely near the living room, but they were already by the front door. Momo liked to tease and throw out unexpected one liners. And Mina, well, she liked being teased. The frustration and slight embarrassment that she claimed to dislike she also secretly found endearing. The arms that she had covering her face now where pressed gingerly against the wall and above her head. Momo had her pinned down. With a quick smirk and a quicker kiss, she said, “Let’s go. My stomach is growling.”

 

Feeling cheated out of a full-on kiss, Mina ran after her hollering as loud as she can (which still sounded like an indoor voice to anyone that didn’t know her), “Wait! You can’t just pin someone–” Seeing that Momo had already flung the door open, Mina stopped mid-sentence and chased after her silently instead. The wind in her steps and a rosiness in her complexion. It was a chase she’d always enjoy. She didn’t know how she could be happier. Then again, she also didn’t know that just an hour later Momo would post about their meal together on social media going as far as using the hashtag _Mimo_. It was these little things that added up for Mina. These little treasured moments. Little excuse to be bad, to do _not_ as told. She didn’t need excuses to love Momo. Then again, Momo was her excuse. Her excuse to live in a way she would’ve never known otherwise. To love and be happy in ways she had only imagined before. 


	6. Sixteen Going on Seventeen

Mina was sixteen going on seventeen when she first met Momo. Sixteen, a precious age when one is easily impressionable, full of hope and dreams, and full of rebellion. For Mina and Momo it was a combination of all of these characteristics that brought them together. Sana had started it really, egging Momo on when she saw her looking at the mysterious new girl with reverence and curiosity.

 

“Go talk to her! She seems lonely,” Sana had said. 

 

Momo backed away instantly. “Are you crazy? Look at her in the corner all alone in all black. What if she’s mean and judgy? I’m scared.”

 

Preoccupied waving to a flock of other female trainees, Sana did not catch what Momo said at first. After asking Momo to repeat herself and receiving a light eyeroll for it, Sana laughed at her best friend in JYPE. “Are you crazy? What are you, five? If she’s mean, you can just leave her to me. You know I get along with all types of girls. I mean, trainees.”

 

Opening and closing her mouth, Momo staggered in place in the crowded practice room. There was so much space between them, yet she felt claustrophobic. Who was this girl? What was she that she was capable of making Momo feel this sort of way while only simply standing and looking mighty intimidating?

 

Sana was the first to speak. “Hey, Mina!” she shouted from way over yonder. “Minari!” she tried again, calling Mina by a personal nickname reserved for friends. “Yes, you. Come here! I’m a same-aged friend!” She introduced herself, stopping short of squishing unsuspecting Mina in a hug.

 

Mina’s eyes darted to the ground as did Momo’s. With only Sana between them, a flush grew over their faces until it illuminated their complexion like two ripe strawberries. Fruitier and more entrancing in this moment than the actual Strawberry Princess Chaeyoung herself.

 

“Hi,” Momo said while shaking inside. She wondered if the nervousness was noticeable. She had tried long and hard to stiffen herself up, one muscle building training session at a time. But if conversational skills were in intuitive muscle, it would be one that Momo felt she could never fully master.

 

Trusty Sana came to helpless Momo’s rescue. “She’s Momo,” she introduced for her.

 

“I’m Momo!” Momo echoed resoundingly with a false confidence and embarrassment’s brashness.

 

It seemed that the entire room of foreign trainees looked. Some even snickered. Mina, on the other hand, was a kind soul. Smile softly and somewhat squinting up her face awkwardly – for she too was bad at making people’s acquaintance – she spoke up gingerly saying, “I’m Mina. I hope we can be friends.” She caught her own tongue, regretting sounding so childish.

 

A true master of forging new bonds, Sana snaked one arm around Momo’s neck and the other around Mina’s. “More than just friends!” she proclaimed. “We’ll be the best of girlfriends. I mean, don’t you sometimes just look at girls on TV and think ‘wow, I want to be like them!’? That could be us! More than just friends. The best gal pals ever.”

 

Momo and Mina shared a bashful smile, the type that slithers across your face slower than Sana’s speed of running. The type that morphs into a simpleton’s hackling laughter. Only, Momo and Mina were no simpletons. They were two blossoming young adults, easily impressed, with too much love to give and too much joy to enjoy.

 

More than friends. The best of girlfriends, Momo repeated in her head unable to find a reason why expect perhaps her own foolishness.

 

Mina, with too many competing thoughts in her own mind, licked the corner of her lip habitually without much conscious awareness. As her tongue slithered across her thin lips, her eyes matched Momo’s. They smiled in unison once more.

 

Then, as if with harmonious resonance, as if with 3mix’s unbeatable compatibility, their two hearts beat in tune. The sweet yet chaotic rhythm a girl who was sixteen going on seventeen. A frantic time of young love and dreams for the future. It was then that it happened, a gateway into adulthood through first love opened. A love that would carry on well past the innocent days of sixteen.

 

***

 

Skip forward a few years and Mina and Momo had gone from competing in Sixteen together in order to becoming part of Twice to covering Seventeen together during their first concert as Twice. True to Sana’s words and the words Momo found herself repeating that day, they had become more than friends. They had become the best of girlfriends. Loving, dependent yet independent, and caring. All the caring and consideration in this world that a sixteen-year-old could never have fully grasped, only one pass seventeen could hope to achieve. Yet, they found themselves in the same situation that had brought them together. A crowded room with too many strangers to be comfortable around each other’s presence.

 

Momo tried to conceal her discomfort, but Mina caught her shifty eyes and nervous shuffle. “Let’s go home and watch something. We can take the food to-go,” Mina decided for them. Momo nodded in agreement.

 

On the way back to their dorm, their hands stayed enlaced. A self-made barrier from oncoming storms of people. Sometimes tightened when others passed, sometimes loosen when passersby looked unapproving and fear struck their entwined hearts. However, with the two things she loved most in each hand – Mina and food – Momo found the confidence that she had struggled to regain since her elimination in Sixteen. “Don’t let go,” she whispered to Mina. “No matter what.”

 

“Are you sure?” Mina turned to ask. Momo’s wide eyes already told her the answer.

 

Later that night, what else would be on except a Sixteen re-run. There were all too many on right now for Twice’s comfort. Momo and Jihyo, more sensitive then they’d let on, could never sit through them. It always stirred up the unpleasant bitter tasting past. Scars that should’ve simmered down, yet remained hard and indigestible. To add to their misery, the episode on when Mina and Momo got home was none other than the one right before the finale. An episode without Momo.

 

Soft, warm hands covered Momo’s eyes instinctively. “Don’t watch! Let’s watch something else.”

 

Bringing the hands into her lap and patting them tenderly, Momo assured Mina she’d be okay. “I can handle it Mina. I’m not the same Momo anymore,” she subtly bragged. “And what else would we watch? The members already used up all the paid video subscriptions that we have allotted for the month.”

 

“You can watch me,” a bolder Mina said in her own alternative world. But our Mina as we knew her kept quiet. “If you insist,” she answered instead. Just being around Momo was nice enough. How kind of the members, Mina thought again. Sana had used the excuse of her middle school reunion to go back to Japan, taking Jihyo and her family with her for a guided tour. The other members had also gone home for a brief vacation. For Mina and Momo, the dorm was a fine home already. It was where their hearts lied after all.

 

For those reasons, Mina’s heart was not lying settled. Momo’s head nudging against her neck and her hands now on her legs added to her fidgeting. “Are you okay?” Momo asked with her eyes still on the television screen. Mina’s team was performing and Momo couldn’t miss that.

 

Mina whined a bit, wanting Momo’s attention but not knowing how to ask for it without interrupting. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity (well, twice to be exact but who was counting besides Mina?). The dorm was theirs and they were each other’s. So why did Mina feel sixteen again? Unable to express her love.

 

“Do you want more of the food?” Momo offered with sticky fingers.

 

Mina shook her head, already embarrassed. She missed it. She missed the assertive Momo that had led the way the first time they became intimate. Perhaps that Momo was not assertive Momo but rather needy Momo. Did Momo not need her now like Mina needed her? On second thought, Momo had always been a bit oblivious to Mina’s failed advances and frustrated cues.

 

Either still unaware or playing Mina with a curveball, Momo coiled her fingers into a fist, rubbing Mina’s face with the back of her hand. “What is it?” she inquired. Her face was hard to read. Was it concern or was it teasing? Mina wanted to know.

 

“Do you remember?” Mina pitched the question back.

 

“Remember what?”

 

“The first time…” Mina squealed, unable to finish. Unlike that one time. “Please don’t make me continue!” she pleaded.

 

“Of course,” Momo steadily gave back. “You squirmed just about this much, if not more.”

 

With comfortable loose PJs on for a change, Mina hid in her nightwear.

 

Momo loved all her little antics. The shyness that gave way to other sides of Mina only she would know. “Mina, it’s so long ago. You still get shy over it?”

 

Mina had no auditable reply besides strange noises. Being an adult meant standing bold and courageous, but Mina was still a month or so shy of her twentieth birthday. The social equivalent of a seventeen-year-old in Western society and still a child by Korean standards after all. She allowed herself to wallow in her shame.

 

Momo had once found her taciturnity frightening, but now she found her shyness amusing and charming. Cleaning her hands of food remnants, Momo found Mina’s and clapped their hands together, making silly little waves in the air. With a light kiss, she whispered to her, calling her by pet names. Letting her know she was being silly, but all the more loveable. So loveable that the TV was soon turned off.

 

Hitched breathing ensued as a kiss grew into many more. It was a warm starry night like this that the two of them first became one. With fingers in each other’s hair, and their hot breath in each other’s ears, Mina shivered against Momo’s body. She found her lower body to be unbearably sensitive as Momo rubbed against her. A wholesome twosome night like their first and a nervous excitement to match it.

 

It was like she was really seventeen again. Rolling Momo over for the first time. Kissing her out in the open living room for the first time. Marking her as her own in places only they would see. If shyness was a cocoon, Mina was breaking through it now. Once again becoming a full-bloom adult in Momo’s strong, protective arms.

 

One kiss. Two kisses. A finger then more. Then, a blur. Mina who liked order and counting lost herself before Momo. A habit of hers now, as natural as licking her lips. It was an unrestrained love that broke her usual inhibitions. Because Momo was not someone to be taken for granted without a second thought. Momo was a sensual comfort that was endlessly exhilarating, forbidden but something to strive for constantly. Even at the ripe young age of sixteen, Mina had known. From their confession even until now, she had known.

 

Mina doubted she would’ve had the courage to be with Momo like this had their timelines not so conveniently matched up. The still-embarrassing first meeting, the unconventionally timed confession, the semi-awkward yet heart pounding run-ins afterwards, the final acceptance, and the many timeless moments afterwards. The teenage rage of emotions had been confirmed to be a mature adult passion.

 

Mina felt young again. Each time she felt like she would lose Momo and each time she felt distant from her, she wanted confirmation of their feelings like this. She missed her fingers, lips, and whole body both on her and in her. She languished before her touch, before her words of love. It was the uncertainty of the future that brought them together. It was knowing she could’ve lost Momo forever had she not been re-added into Twice, knowing that being in Twice would change their lives forever, and knowing they could never be without each other and be the same as they had once been that led them into their relationship that others would deem rash. Drove them to their decision to become official.

 

With a moan and much satisfaction, Mina who rarely spoke her feelings would give Momo further affirmation of her love. “I love you,” she breathed weakly, too close to the edge.

 

Momo did not need to lift her head to reply. Her actions said it all as she delved in further. Mina cried out, thinking for a split second how she was glad the couches were black leather and unstainable. Logistics aside, she could only think of one other thing immediately after.

 

God, she loved Momo so freaking much! She could see them being together for the rest of their lives, keeping quite just in case their rowdy children would over hear, having date nights with movies and down time like this. It scared Mina too much to dream like this on the daily. To allow herself to be so vulnerable to the ideal future and to Momo. But what could she do? What would the future be like without Momo? Besides, she would be a legal adult soon in Korean age. Like a seventeen-year-old turning eighteen in the West. What was the worst that could happen at this age?

 

Mina had no further time to think. The pleasure took over her. She cried out and held Momo closer, never wanting to let go yet feeling feeble. Overcome by tide after tide of gratification. Momo’s strength compensated for Mina’s lack of. Momo caught her in her arms giving her safe refuge. A silent promise that she would hold her throughout the frightening days of adulthood that were to come.


	7. A Tricky Game of Separation

Cameras flashed before Mina as they often did. Swarms of reporters waited around all day for Twice’s arrival at the airport. Everyone knew their roles. The celebrities and their spectators. They were loved and they were isolated. Mina was surrounded but utterly alone. A lot had happened since her birthday. Much of it not things she wished to talk about, not things that she could even talk about if she wanted to. Just a few months ago, she had prided herself in being able to call Momo hers. To have her company in the darkness. But their company would not have it. Not their actual company, not their staff, not even their most trusted managers.

 

A breach. That’s how their manager unnie had described it. Somehow or another, the company had gotten suspicious. Twice was contracted to be transparent with their company, but things did not work the same way the other ways around. Within days, rumors swirled. Rumors that were settled rashly, leaving Mina burned. Call it a warning, they had told her. And that ended it. No more talk of it, not even with her members who continued to be left in the dark.

 

Once, Mina had told them close to everything. She had loved them and trusted so much that she had considered letting them know about her and Momo. Now, even she and Momo themselves could not be trusted to keep their secret. Two couldn’t keep a secret unless not just one but both of them were dead. And so, Mina had done it. She had broken off their relationship. A breach to her company was an attack on Mina. She had to be the one to make the final attack. Three simple words to kill a relationship. Three words to put an end to a couple long living on fear.

 

“Let’s break up,” Mina had said somberly while only she and Momo were home. As it turned out, another brief break in their schedule would also serve as Mina and Momo’s breaking point. Mina knew her words were paramount. They would go unchallenged by Momo. When everything had broken out, when Mina was told to avoid the limelight for the time being, Momo, better at handling stressful situations, had held her tight. She had asked her what she could do for her. How she could make things better.

 

When they came to realize they had no answers, that there was no solution without separation, they had hesitated. But even Momo had seen the signs. At a fan sign, a fan had told Mina that she and Momo were perfect for each other, that they were just like a couple. Mina’s response? She had admitted she sees Momo as a woman. Then, despicably even to herself, she had said she was but a loving younger sister to her. She had said that even if Momo loved her, she was but a sister to her.

 

Jihyo and Sana had been within earshot at the time. They had brushed it off as cautious denial or a couple’s quarrel. The subsequent weeks turned months had proven them wrong. Mina and Momo appeared as strangers. Distant enough to be merely band members in name. Not even best friends. Not even sisters. They had held their breath throughout the following days that passed uneventfully. Through the rigorous schedules that would be but a summer haze to them in the long run, through the filming of their variety show in Switzerland. Nothing. Little to no interaction. And they knew that a wonderful creation had been slain well before Mina spoke those words.

 

Momo pleaded no contest. She felt guilty. Guilt for Mina’s midnight tears she could not speak of, her anguished that reached even her parents who had to shut down their social media, and above all, her renewed silence. The girls that Momo had gotten to open up, shut down. She ate alone again, watched TV alone again, and slept alone again. She was already reorienting herself for life without Momo before she realized it. For once, Momo was ahead of her in an acknowledgement of something many felt but could not name. The members did not have all the information after all.

 

At the group meetings where they were to expose everything, to be bare in front of each other, Mina kept her guard. Even Sana who loved to babble held the secrets of her best friends deep within like a transplant that had become part of her never to be rejected or torn out and exposed to the light again. They played their roles, but how could the best of friends play roles around each other? Tiresome lies built up until they were strong enough to crumble walls.

 

Though Mina and Momo’s secrets did not crumble their relationship with others in the band, Mina had taking too many personal blows. She could not see her members do the same. Call it paranoia or anxiety, she stopped taking the members suggestive questions, playful yet insightful jokes and comments, and side glances an ease. She could do it no more. It was enough to be a blemish-free celebrity. She could not also be a fake friend, a secretive agent within her group of sisters. It pained her, and because it pained her, it pained Momo even more.

 

“Okay, let’s break up,” Momo agreed. “But-” She stopped herself. What ‘but’? Where would they go from here? A break in a relationship was a drop off, a break up was jumping off a cliff that was unrecoverable from. She had heard what it was like to be around an ex after a break up. She had witness her closest friends skirt around each other, growing more and more distant until they stopped greeting each other hi altogether. Momo could tell from Mina’s retraction and her inability to meet her eyes these past weeks that they were already getting there. She could only ask for one small request. A simple one. “Can we still be friends?” she mumbled over the webtoon she had playing on the living room television.

 

Mina could barely hear her. Yet, she was accustomed to reading her lips just as Momo with hers. They had kissed each other enough times to know the exact movement of each lip by touch alone, never mind sight. They had whispered voicelessly to each other in the presence of each other enough to have almost entire conversations without vocalizing a single word. That was their level of intimacy, the ample proof of their closeness. In the end, it would seem it was all for naught. They would be strangers once more.

 

Tears in her eyes, Momo turned away from Mina, choosing to focus on the screen instead. A dazzlingly shinning and simple love story between a man and a woman played out on the screen. A typical cocky male, a hardworking woman, and a second lead with no chance whatsoever. It was a world of drama, of entertainment. Momo and Mina themselves were in the world of entertainment, but their love turned out not to be nearly as much entertaining to others as it was drama. Momo signed, slumping low into a big stuff animal on the couch. Could Mina please give her an answer then leave? Momo was in a haste to separate herself from Mina. How could she face her with love still lingering? With the foolish beliefs that their relationship would work out? With the hope that it could still be salvaged? Maybe if only they weren’t celebrities. If they weren’t Twice.

 

But they were. There was nothing else they would truly wish to be at the end of the day. It was one love or another. They had been greedy to think both could co-exist. Everyone talked about member love. Everyone stood behind their own ideal pairings. For the good of the band, however, it was not a dream to be realized. Fan service served as self-fulfillment. Declarations of love in front of others as an outspoken daydream. Intimate love between members was perhaps best left as that – a fantasy. Play for the sake of others, or their own enjoyment perhaps, never to be taken seriously or else they would have regrets.

 

With any game, characters’ deaths were inevitable. For a same gender couple, playing the game, it was the same. No, it was worse. They would sacrifice so that others could go on. They would give in for the sake of the larger campaign. It was only in reality that they were sure they could all live. Mina, a seasoned gamer, knew all this. She had been called a brilliant gamer. The best of the best. Despite her skills, her position as the surety of Mimo’s well-being, she could not win. It was a game without winning. A game of secrets that was to be conceded to. Knowing Momo would not be able to do it, she had done the impossible. She had let them both down, slain them with her own sword so that they could roam free again. Be one with the rest of their sisters again.

 

Head still in the contraptions of the game was no way to live. Mina who stood buried by the harsh weather and years that flew past in a matter of seconds like the heads of Easter Island, swallowed her misery. “Of course, we’ll still be friends. We’ll always be friends. Best friends. Because we’re Twice.”

 

Because we’re Twice. Momo wished it didn’t hurt. That pain and joy, defeat and fulfillment didn’t have to antagonize each other so. “Oh, you’re right,” she merely nodded. Her movements were not her own. Her mind blurry.

 

Mina would find Momo on the couch in this same position watching the same show a few days later. She hadn’t been able to pay attention to the episode and was watching it over again. The wind in the protagonist’s hair reminded her of Mina’s soft locks gracing the Switzerland breeze. The loving exchanges between the main couple making her recall her failed attempts to get Mina’s attention both abroad then and home now. She was lost in memory.

 

Having resigned herself from Momo instead of everything else they held dear, Mina was also at a lost. Sometimes, she had the urge to go up to her and hug her. She would call her Momoring, instead of unnie. She would feed Momo fried chicken and stroke her face instead of watching her eat from afar, having to rely on the moving automated cat ears on her to see how she was feeling. When she had broken up with her, Mina had expected Momo to run after her. To plead 'please no'. To give her a final kiss even. But they were not typical. They were not a sappy webtoon, but a chilling psychological game filled with despair.

 

And so, Mina sat on the far edge of the couch watching Sana eventually come cuddle Momo, Jeongyeon and Nayeon asking her out for a meal, and Dahyun offering up her squishy cheeks that Momo loved so much (because they reminded her of what Mina’s had been like). Everyone showered their love on Momo because it was out of character for her to be so blue like her now blue hair. So gloomy like a dreadful abandoned village.

 

It was Mina that was abandoned though. Melancholic days staring out at the black rain-soaked skies was a signature look for Mina. No one questioned her lonesome ways, only thinking she had reverted back to her old self. They blamed it on her fatigue and failing health. She hadn’t been lively since Switzerland, since she made up her mind to leave Momo once she had the chance to tell her in isolation. The members did not know this last bit. Not even Sana, not even Jihyo.

 

How could Mina and Momo bring themselves to tell these two something they could still not admit to themselves? The Chinese had a saying that a night in the nuptial chamber was more than worth its weight in gold. Years in a deep relationship, an immortal first love, was an eternity of memories unpurchaseable by any amount of riches. They could not forget.

 

***

 

It had been months, but it still felt like only hours. Mina had once had a crush that moved away. For years, she still teared up at their mention. One time, she had been foolish enough to meet up with them. They were strangers by then, and still, Mina had shed tears in silent after they were long gone. Those were slipping tears that fell on their own without her knowlege until they clogged every inch of her. With Momo… Oh for all the world, Mina could not rid herself of her memory. Memories of her literally shaking in joy, memories of her nearly choking on food until Mina passed her water and made her chew slowly, and memories of them. Every little detail from Mina holding her hand before betraying her in Mafia to Mina withholding tears to serve her the ultimate betrayal of separation. Games were played for enjoyment, but she and Momo had been real.

 

Mina had tried. She had tried to reduce them to something else. Experimentation. A silly way to rid loneliness. Immature curiosity. They were not any of these. Knowing they were more, that Momo would always be much more to her, she kept away. Further and further away until the red ribbon tying their fates together stretched to its max, threatening to tear away at their soles and their souls. She could only cry. It was always her easy way out. Tears to wash away everything.

 

The more she cried that night in the empty dorm as her members went out to celebrate Jihyo’s twelfth year of being in JYPE, the more she regretted joining JYPE. Not because she hated anything or anyone. She did not have so much as a dislike for anything or anyone, only regret she had hurt her. She had pained Momo. She was silly like this, to think of her even now. In her selflessness, she was no better than the most selfish of people. She saw herself as the villain. Her consenting to the relationship had started it all, her words had also ended it. She was the worst of them all. Her thoughts cycled. Day after day, she repeated her agony while Momo seemed to prosper.

 

Momo seemed to be phenomenal. The world loved her and she loved them back. Sunbaes hit on her and she played on their emotions right back at them. Even the annoying male idol Mina hated seeing Momo around continued to make advances. Momo had let him. She could never say no. She was too polite and too timid. Without Mina there to hold her hand, to hold her back and tell her to stay as hers on days where she interacted with others, days she would be forced to form a love line for TV, she drifted further from her. Momo could so easily fall into the grasp of others and all Mina could do was dandle herself in her own bed.

 

 Mina wept like a baby, needed attention and love it would not get. And then, most unexpectedly, arms swept around her. They cushioned her in security, pulling her back from the edge of the mattress where she liked to hang on the verge of falling. In the center of the small mattress, the person behind her lulled her. Mina could tell by the fragrant musk on her neck, that natural scent she had long swoon over, exactly who it was. She should have told her to let go. Should have, but wouldn’t.

 

“Don’t get me wrong. Don’t take this the wrong way,” Momo whispered to her in a voice much deeper than her usual one. “I just came back to get Jihyo’s wallet for her, and I…” She would not lie to her. They had done too much of that to everyone already. “I can’t stand you crying.”

 

If Mina would find the strength to go against her basic instinct, she would have told Momo to go. Told her to release her. It was not in her to do this, however. Her instinct told her to hold Momo back, to kiss her even.

 

“Momo,” she called out, formalities once again forgotten after they had been readopted. A careless relapse perhaps. Or maybe more.

 

“Yes, Mina?”


	8. The Truth of the City of Stars

She saw the countless moles and freckles and even blemishes on Mina as a city of stars. They shined for her and yet there was so much Momo couldn’t see as she nestled herself against Mina’s bare skin. She kissed them anew each time, finding more and more. All of which she loved. They were there for her acting as landmarks in a map of a winding city where Momo would always be lost. She had felt them during their first embrace, the warmth of the stars culminating into one star itself. Mina has always been too bright for her to fully see, to fully grasp. And now perhaps her light that shined upon Momo would be faded out. It was all a fantasy now, a fantasy that had become her reality.

 

Momo smiled at the floor where she could see Mina’s pointed feet awkwardly yet perfectly sprawled out. The opposite ends of the restaurant table separated them like an islander and a mainlander. Events and time more so. From Mina’s final words to her until now they had roamed the world together yet alone, touring cities while refusing to explore the other in the presence of their members. Weekly member talks had become less straining, so has answering queries of shipping fans. Mina and Momo had become versed in lies of their distance. Which at some point had become the truth.  

 

Strolling through the smokescreen of the crowded Korean barbeque place they favored and had once left their signatures hanging side by side, it was easy to pick out others looking for love. Sana, Jihyo, and members of Gfriend sat between them. They sought love and comfort in each other while Momo and Mina sought distance. There was a rush of a blush to Eunha’s doll-like face when she was referred to as Sana’s girlfriend. A death glance came from Sana to Jihyo and Yerin, the instigators. Then there was a touch, Eunha’s small gentle hand on Sana’s dexterous ones. It escalated to a small dance on Sana’s part when Mina’s phone rang out in a familiar tune. It was a show tune from an acclaimed musical and an irritated unnie on the other line asking for an invite.

 

 _“You’re hanging out with Gfriend without me?! This was Jihyo and Sana’s idea wasn’t it?”_ Nayeon’s booming voice rang into Mina’s ear. The whole table could hear her and Sana only laughed and ‘ohyo’-ed in reply. The members on both sides cackled belatedly inviting Nayeon over. Messing with Jeongyeon’s hair and in the comfort of her lap at home, Nayeon rejected but protested nevertheless. All attention was on the phone that was placed on speakerphone, except for one pair of eyes. They lingered on Momo’s a bit too long, reacting to her every gesture, crinkling in joy as her merriment reflected its crystalline orbs. Momo had made it a habit not to look back. She felt the warm gaze on her like a hand warmer that had been slipped into her pocket, acknowledged it was there in her head, and swiftly ignored it. Mina could be indecisive and regretful, and Momo would be stubborn and cold.

 

She couldn’t look back. A look into Mina’s eyes would light up the skies, reopening the map of the world they had agreed to close together and send her reeling. In contrast to her apparent dejection she had somehow stayed by her side, through all the painfully tragic friendly attempts of reconciliation and all. Mina would occasionally smile at her and laugh so lovingly like nothing had transpired, like they were sixteen-year-old trainees crushing. Pushing and pulling, yet still friends and nothing more. Once recently, Mina had written Momo’s name with confetti at an award show. Momo had written hers back without thought and found herself crawling into a ball all alone in her bed later that night. To speak Mina’s name was to rebirth a star, and to talk to her was to connect the stars into constellations on a reignited sky map. Momo couldn’t have that. If Momo was a forever lost child, Mina was the reason for that disorientation.

 

***

 

Time without her dragged like the wilting slipping clocks in Picaso’s painting, dripping away ever so slowly in a desert forgotten by time. Momo felt like a timeless void, a clock with no hands. She was alone on the ground forcing herself to do simple workouts to idly pass her brief holiday. She had stayed in the dorm on the last of their free days instead of going out like the rest of the members because of a certain someone’s simple passing words. A quiet wind ushered her in, keeping her grounded but not content. A voice that said, “I’ll be there,” was all Momo had needed to hear from Mina. They were only a room apart now yet kept to their own space.     

 

Momo voiced her displeasure to the empty room usually so full of laughter. She sounded gruff and it bothered her being so dry and alone. So gathering her disgruntled self, lifting herself up using her core strength, she brought herself before Mina’s door. “Mina,” she let the name slide from her lips. “Minaring,” she called out softer this time, hearing shuffling steps to the door. “I’ll be here, and you’ll be alright,” Momo reassured her.

 

The door clicked open and Mina vaulted onto her, legs strapped around her waist, head nuzzled against her neck. She didn’t care just where Momo would carry her, where they would go. All she needed was the crazy feeling in her heart, the compass of her map. The pretense was up. They were free to unleash their love in the absence of others as they had agreed after much deliberation that night now many nights ago. “Momoring,” Mina called to her now as she did then. They landed on the bed as they had that night abroad. “Promise me,” she repeated her words from that evening. Mina didn’t ask for much. Only for a quiet love that they’d conceal in the day in long-awaited revelations in the illumination of the dark. Stars in the sky shinned the brightest in the absence of human pollution. Without others there, they could recite their promises once more.

 

“I won’t regret it,” Momo who had been hurt by love but refused to be rebuffed answered confidently, opposed to her character. “Promise.” And she set Mina’s stars aflame was more, until she was an entire lit universe calling Momo’s name, shinning so brightly just for her. Momo never knew how to navigate, preferring to let others take the lead. Yet here she was inside of this vast map finding just the right spots where she was needed, where she wanted to dwell forever if only stars didn’t continually erupt with the brightest burst of light and the loudest of sounds.

 

Mina singed out to her. Her costar in this star-studded production that belonged to Mimo alone. Her voice was melodic like a musical actress’. It was a tune Momo couldn’t forget. The most sorrowfully luring and luminous calls of passion. Her name in Mina’s mouth were lyrics of the simple truth of their not simple love. The world pained them. Even their self-fortified love city couldn’t completely shield them from the starless vast depths of the outside world. They would make do though. By all the stars and moons, they’d make do. They’d call out words of love, whisper them into each other’s ears, infuse them in each kiss and each passionate touch if they must until they both exploded. Two entwined supernovas with not a concern for the rest of the universe in their moment of collision. A beautiful rainbow of endless energy, unmeasurable light that could cover all the known worlds and some.

 

“You’re glowing,” Momo laughed at Mina’s enraptured state. Mina shied, embedding her ecstatic heart and body into Momo’s. She kissed her lively, stroked every inch of her body inside and out vivaciously. She had known the truth all along. Through their self-imposed distance and silence until the world held no life except their own, there were words that she always held to be true. “I just want to be with you, to be in love with you,” she confessed into her ears not sure if Momo could hear her over her own euphoria. She would fight for her, even in silence. She was her everything.

 

 

* * *

I have a lot of tragic feels y'all. This was a short update but lmk what you'd like to see in a longer one~

Soooo much has happened to me as a Twice stan in Korea idk where to even begin. But it's been so great!

 


	9. Winter's Jealousy

 

We all have that one friend that’s perpetually cold. For Twice, it was Momo. Mina saw her shivering from afar, wanting to help but couldn’t in her cool poised getup. She was clad in a beige designer trench coat looking like she was going to go buy all of Chile instead of perform there. Momo was in a comfortable hoodie and jeans to hide her many bruises – the reasoning for which we’ll explore shortly.

Today was a biting remembrance of a winter thought to have passed and of course Twice was on the move as usual in disregard to the weather. They had just wrapped up their Pocari Sweat commercial filming and were now being shipped to another country from Korea. The move on came with many regrets. Oh how Mina loved the tropic beaches of Thailand. She had been to Phuket before on a family vacation, but never with all the members like this. Not with Momo as her secret lover. They had so cherished the heat of the southern sun, soaking it up along with every second of their time to relax. Of which with comeback season were so few, so sparse.

Back in Korea, even if it was just for a moment, winter’s wrath stormed down on them all. It was already spring this time of year even for the northern country. Yet, the last of winter’s chill refused to let them off easy. It snowed on the girls. The wind picked up, making one and all forget that just the previous day had been a record warm temperature in Seoul for months. They called it _‘the cold winter’s jealousy’_ here in Korea. For it, Momo and Mina only had much disdain.

The wind lured a bundle of Mina’s hair into her mouth, and she elegantly whisked it away with a turn of her head. The cameras zoomed in on her every moment, loving her swift grace. But no one loved it more than Momo from afar. She couldn’t wait until they landed early in Chile. No listed schedules meant she could explore with Mina, laugh with her and love her openly in a place far from home where only a handful of cameras would be after them if they were lucky. She so wanted Chile’s warmth to come to them quick like the heat of Phuket. The more she too missed the heat of Phuket, the more she despised winter. Why did it have to be so jealous and demanding of fear and attention?

When it truly came to demanding attention though, Momo could be the whiniest of them all. Not annoying and fierce like winter, but adorable and fine-tuned like an irresistible puppy. Just the other day on the sunny beach, Momo and Mina had found a quiet space all their own. Coming to Phuket before had one crucial perk: Mina knew a little known path of palm trees they could call theirs and theirs only. Only, she had found something else as well – her phone. Done with their part of the shoot, they had agreed to slip away here. It was supposed to be their private one-on-one time…had Mina not been so engrossed in her damn phone. Momo could only groan and sigh, and groan and sigh some more.

 

“Are you finding more clothes to buy?” she complained, pulling gently at Mina’s arm. Momo was a fussing child, wanting her candy. Mina’s sweetness. Her sweet loving.

 

It was all for none. Mina answered without looking up, leaning against the tree behind her with one foot pressing against it like a popular cool kid. “No, I’m just checking Twitter really quick. I’ll be done in a second.”

 

Momo was going to explode. She crossed her arms to keep it contained, barely. “But you have like three private Twitters! It’ll take forever!”

 

The phone was momentarily put down as Mina replied, “I have four,” and went back to scrolling through the daily mentions and tags.

 

Chewing on air in annoyance and sweating from the lack of shade, even under these rows of trees, Momo pouted, whining harder. If only Mina stans could see her now, she thought. Mina the social media averted homebody was in reality a Twitter and Instagram addict, constantly checking in with her Japanese friends and looking at tags she follows. Momo was jealous of them all. Her rage making it even hotter. She wondered if Mina noticed, or cared. She bet even if she were to get down on her knees and propose to Mina in this instant, she’d take no note of it.

 

Then, the wicked idea came to Momo. It was so naughty that had Mina been paying any attention, she would’ve probably shut it down before it could begin. It was too bad she wasn’t, because Momo was already on one knee in the unleveled rocky ground. She tugged lightly at Mina’s sponsored clothing, waiting for her gaze.

 

“What are you doing?” Mina laughed at her at last. “Get up. What if you scrape up your knee?” She attempted to make her rise.

 

Momo wouldn’t budge. “I’ll just say I was playing soccer or football or whatever,” she explained away. It was brilliant considering what they were working on, (more of that later, though, of course).

 

Mina flushed; putting her phone away before it could be dirtied for what she feared might go down. “What are you planning to do? Pull me down to you?” she speculated, a smiling never leaving her face. She was so weak for Momo’s silliness.

 

“Remember what you said to me that night in the hotel?”

 

She blushed some more. “Which night? In which hotel?”

 

“ _The_ night. The one we agreed we should carry on, but in more secrecy than before.”

 

How could Mina forget? More importantly, how could she take Momo seriously and answer that question when her face was between her legs, her hand dangerously close to her pants zipper. She only nodded, hoping that was enough.

 

“You said it hurt too much to not be with me,” Momo answered for her, a proud woman feeling like the luckiest in the world once more. “But I promise _this_ won’t hurt at all,” she said, placing a hand on Mina’s back and pushing her gently against the tree. You could already guess where her hands went next, and what was about to go on.

 

One hand snaked up Mina’s bare legs smoother than Sana’s snake-like ways, and the other pulled down her zipper as Momo kissed every millimeter of newly exposed skin. Mina exhaled slowly, cautious of being caught. She loved everything too much to admit. The hotness of the beachside, the hotness of Momo’s breath, the hotness in her very being wanting to be relieved by the moisture Momo could provide.

 

“Agh, you must be crazy.” She wanted to cuss so bad. Momo had just made it pass her new lacy Victoria’s Secret panties, making her a mess as she always did. Mina would make her pay for it later. Literally. (There was more than one reason why Momo is always seen shopping in Victoria’s Secret, especially while they’re abroad.)

 

Whether Momo knew it or not, Mina was a woman of great planning. Like the clothes Mina called for in advance to make sure they were in store before heading out for a quick efficient shopping trip, her clothes were also well planned to a tee. She had annoyed Momo on purpose, worn certain things on purpose, and not worn certain other things on purpose as well. Momo would figure all of that out soon enough.

 

“Mina?” Momo broke away from her to ask. Things were going too well. Mina would never give in that easily, would she? Momo rightfully feared she was being played the fool.

 

“Shut up,” Mina directed her. A Pocari towel she had wrapped around her shoulders was thrown on the bumpy ground. Next to go was Momo. She felt her leg bumping against rocks as Mina pushed her on the ground but didn’t complain. There were more bruises she’d have to explain later. Luckily, she’d have a convenient excuse. It sure hurt a lot to be with each other sometimes, but it could be a good hurt. One that comfy, long loose clothes such as, gee I don’t know…maybe Momo’s hoodies and oversized T-shirts and Mina’s trenches and long dresses could hide?

 

Momo couldn’t so much as protest if she wanted too. Mina had slipped out of her shirt, her chest completely bare. What was the point of a bra in the sizzling climate if she had nothing to hide from Momo in this climax? It was enough to make Momo speechless for years. The nerve of this supposedly perfect, shy, law-abiding, religious girl… _If only people knew_ , _if only Korea knew,_ Momo thought again. God, she was infatuated with all of Mina’s rebelliousness, all her actions that could’ve easily disqualified her from idol life if their company and others knew the half of it. But this was a secret that belonged to them alone. A scorching hot love that any Korean winter would be jealous of.

 

“Enjoy it,” Mina whispered to her. “You’ll miss every second of it when we get back to winter’s jealousy.”

 

Momo tossed her shirt aside and took Mina’s lips in her own, fighting her to be on top. Winter would throw quite the fit indeed.

 


	10. Friends Behind the Scenes

 

She ran behind her happily being led by the arm like Mina’s arm was her leash and Momo was the eager doggy following her every step. Post successful Saitama concert glow still strong, they were full of smiles. Bowing to everyone, making fleeting greetings to their members’ family and friends. Mina turned back to her with a smile, halting in her speedy excited penguin steps. She laughed a little, asking one more time for confirmation, “You sure you want to meet my friends?” She cheeks high, eyes bright, how could Momo say no?

 

Just seconds earlier they had been with their parents. News of their ‘breakup’ had reached them long ago, but the tied family bond was still there. Their fathers talked in medical terms they couldn’t understand while their moms cross-examined each other’s new brand name bags. There was no place for Mina and Momo, no way except out. So Mina led her by the arm, taking her to her special guests of the night. Her prior dance instructor and her friends who recently got back to Japan from their many adventures abroad had come just for her. Momo had to get in good with them, of course.

 

“Isn’t there a wise saying or something that if you want to be lovers you should get with each other’s friends?” Momo asked so genuinely, Mina burst out in full laughter. Her eyes closed shut from laughing so hard, it made a very confused Momo smile as well. A shy smile not because she knew she was being silly, but because Mina looked so beautiful in all her joy.

 

“You mean the Spice Girls?” Mina pointed out, giving Momo’s hand a little squeeze. They kept walking past all the lights, all the people.

 

“Wait, are we talking about food now?” Momo hyped up.

 

Mina shook her head graciously, giving Momo a pass. _Oh, Momo._ She sure was different from most of her other friends. Had their situations never pushed them together, would they have been friends in the first place? Momo’s timid smile this time indicated that she knew she had said something wrong. She just wasn’t sure what. Mina couldn’t get mad at or even have the nerve to correct a precious kid like this. So she checked their surroundings, leaned her head at a similar angle to hers, looking at her round eyes straight on. What shined more: her glimmering lips or loving eyes? Momo would answer she liked them both as she went in for the quick kiss. At least this much came intuitively to them now.

 

(It was the quickest of kisses. Barely more than a peck. Still, someone had overseen. Someone who had not yet known about Mina and Momo. But more on that later. For now, let’s see Mina’s friends through Momo’s eyes, shall we?)

 

 _Oh gosh, why are they all so perfect and intimidating like Mina?_ Momo winced to herself. She wished Mina hadn’t let go of her hand to hug her friends. Now she felt like the third wheel. All this talk about their travels, their schooling, their boyfriends, their hometown... What could Momo contribute to a conversation like this?

 

Momo sighed. Most people mistook Mina for a loner, but she had quite the sizeable friend group at home. The new Facetime limit was made for a big friend group like hers, and Momo had no place in it. She stared at the three identical Mina fans that her childhood friends were holding instead. Suddenly, she wanted to talk with 2D Mina. At least this printed flat Mina was all alone in the picture. Momo had never been one to socialize, and now she had wedged herself in between a clique of private Catholic school besties who were also secretly somewhat rebels according to what she had overheard. She was just a dork who cared for nothing but dance and food, she reduced herself to nothing. Feeling no confidence. Momo stared harder at the image of Mina, zoning out the conversation going on. What was she doing in their sophisticated circle?

 

“She looks better in pictures then in person, doesn’t she?” one of Mina’s friends teased, being the first of her friend group to address Momo.

 

Momo silently gasped for air. She tried to recall this particular friend’s name again. Why was it slipping her mind at this crucial moment?! Mina had prepped her a bit. None of it was coming back to her now. She would’ve panicked more, mumbled incoherently even. Then, Mina’s soft hand found hers, holding it warmly, reassuringly. _Remember,_ she seemed to mouth to her.      

 

“Remember how chic and cold and self-confident I seemed at first?” Mina had said to her one night over the phone in Japanese. (They were still going on with their ‘we’ve broken up’ charades for the sake of privacy and security.) “Well, my friends are like that too. They’re super nice, I promise. But they’re also shy around new people and give out a powerful intimidating vibe. Just try to be normal and maybe initiate conversation when you meet them. I’m sure it’ll be fine!”

 

“Nah, I like her both ways,” Momo let slip causally in a quietest of quiet voice.

 

Mina’s friends wooh-ed as she turned away in a blushing laugh. Momo immediately caught her own mistake and panicked even more because a method to fix this situation eluded her. Mina enjoyed her privacy so much so that she’d lie to the members and her family to keep Momo a secret. But in front of her best friends of friends, she stood proudly holding Momo’s hand, leaning on her. Her little shows of affection said plenty. Thinking of this, Momo cracked a small laugh as well. “So you all came just for the show?” she worked up the courage to ask.

 

Mina’s friend with the roundest of eyes, a sharp face, and prominent features that she perfectly accentuated with skillful makeup responded to her first. “We’re nearby anyways. And we couldn’t miss a change to be the VIP guests! Not everyone is so lucky like you. We need to see Mina whenever we can,” she kindly replied, making a small jest at the couple. She had a gentle pretty voice not so different from Mina’s, easy on the ears and with a particular ring. Her sentences short and to the point since she was bad in situations like this as well, but had been taught to handle them with grace. Again, much like Mina.

 

Momo blushed hard. God, she was so stunning too. If Momo could ever get over her spazzing heart, this wouldn’t be so bad. Mina didn’t miss her split second wandering eyes. She cleared her throat a bit and reeled her embarrassing puppy closer in to her. Yes, Mina was possessive. Just bad at it. She could be oh so easy to provoke. If Momo loved death and didn’t fear Mina’s feelings truly being hurt-hurt so much, she would tease her by evoking her jealousy more often. Even some of her friends were wonders. Momo would have to make sure to get in good with them alright. She smiled ear to ear now as conversation came a bit easier. Still awkward as heck, but more manageable with every embarrassed laugh.

 

And before they knew it, after the performances had been complimented, warm wishes exchanged, it was time for Mina to move on. She had her dance instructors and others to see still. Momo had closed the distance between them now, resting on Mina’s shoulder that she never wanted to leave.

 

“Are you comfortable there?”’ Mina asked her, patting her head. She noted an uneven strand of hair on Momo’s bangs and parted it back, giving herself a proud smile for doing so. Momo was perfect as was. No tweaking needed, but Mina liked the minor impressions she had on her still. Her trying so hard for those important to her. They were as different as sun and moon but they always met somewhere in-betweens on one star or another. It was more than she could ever ask for from the one star of her life.

 

Momo whimpered. “How did I do?” She couldn’t be nearly as confident.

 

“Aigoo,” she played with her squishy face for the brief moment, squishing it this way and that. “You did great!” she reassured her, resisting the urge to kiss her softly all over her adorable face. And then she remembered. “But next time you look at my friend like that ag-“

 

“I was starstruck!” Momo defended herself, standing up tall. “I forgot how much like you they are. Especially-”

 

Mina silenced her with a tight hug. “I know, I know.” How long could a hug last? Could she hold her forever and always? She sure wished she could. “Let’s hurry, ” she make herself say. “There’s still a lot of people I want you to meet!”

 

“”Eh?!” Momo exclaimed. Gosh, the things she willing opened herself up to for Mina. Then she cracked another smile. With Mina there beside her, it seemed alright. If these people loved Mina then she would learn what makes her so special through their eyes as well. New eyes on her best of best friends. After all, there had to be wisdom behind the Whatever Spice’s motto or whatever, right?

 

 

* * *

It's been a while but you all enjoy the fluff~

Will edit later! If you want more constant Twice updates irl see my Twitter **[_@twicett520_](http://twitter.com/twicett520) ** lolol or my Youtube **[_OnceJelly_](http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC374QLUjyoPaqaaPft86EVg)**

 

 _Before I update_ , tweet about the fic (with the hashtag and link) and I may update quicker and/or give you a special devoted reader shout out! ^^

_#TWICEPreciousForeignLove_

AO3:  _[goo.gl/b1Ez4Y](http://goo.gl/b1Ez4Y)_

AFF: [ _goo.gl/R5VVpY_](http://goo.gl/R5VVpY)

 

 ** _Stories to be updated next (very soon! ^^):_** Twice stories such as [ _ **Love and Magic (and All Things Momo)**_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11271852?view_full_work=true) _: a Momo ships fic,_ _ **[World's   
Apart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14764128?view_full_work=true)**:_ _a NaMo plus MiChaeng and maybe more fic,_ and  ** _[Seoul Train (Once Departed)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10987152?view_full_work=true)_** _: a multi-ship fic_


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